Process for the manufacture of



nited States 1 PROCESS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF INTERRUPTED FILAMENT YARNS In the manufacture of yarns from artificial short fibers, which manufacture is based on the utilization of waste products from the manufacture of continuous filament artificial yarns, said short fibers, now produced in a wide range of counts and lengths by cutting continuous yarns, must be submitted to a long series of treatments for making a yarn again.

This process is incongruous in that the initial continuous filaments originally having remarkable physical properties, due to their real continuity, are cut to lengths of a few centimeters, and the resultant short fibers are united through a complex spinning and manufacturing process characterized by a remarkable number of passages on costly machinery and loss of most of the original physical properties of the continuous filaments. Therefore several attempts have been carried out in order to obtain yarns, having an aspect similar to that of the yarns obtained by spinning short filaments and suitable for identical uses,

either by treating continuous filament yarns as produced in rayon spinning, and therefore having relatively low counts, or by treating tows having a total count of yarns of some hundreds of thousands of deniers, as presently spun for staple fiber manufacture. In all of these attempts there is a tendency to keep the continuity either of the yarn or of the tow and a cutting or abrading occurs only on one portion of the filaments forming the yarn or the tow, giving the resultant yarn a wool-like aspect due to the small fibers projecting therefrom.

The several processes which have been proposed, can be grouped as follows:

(1) breakage of one part of the filaments forming a yarn or a tow by tearing, i.e. by a slow and gradual stretching, as for instance in the processes disclosed by the German Patents No. 681,465 and No. 704,346.

(2) breakage by cutting of one part of the filaments, forming either a yarn or a tow, by different means while the yarn or tow moves along a rectilinear path, the cutting action being carried out together with or followed by a stretching process, for instance as disclosed in French Patent No. 763,514; in British Patents No. 403,739, No. 410,805 and No. 655,134; in US. Patents No. 2,140,535, No. 2,140,566 and No. 2,167,916, etc.

(3) breakage of one part of the filaments of a yarn (the process is not suitable for tow), by means of a cutting or abrading means on the yarn in its twisting stage, preferably on the yarn when revolving above a spindle, while said yarn, due to the centrifugal force acting thereon owing to its revolution movement, forms the so called balloon. Processes of this kind form the object of Italian Patents No. 338,123 and No. 355,304, of French Patent No. 935,369 and its addition No. 55,515, and of British Patent No. 399,838.

These processes have the purpose of obtaining in a simple way yarns similar to those obtained through spinning of short fibers, and said yarns are advantageously used for making hosiery articles because of their wool-like appearance. The partial cutting of the filaments to convert a continuous filament artificial yarn into an interatent ice rupted filament yarn is sometimes hereafter referred to as wooling.

The fibers projecting from the yarn have to be of substantially uniform length, inclined at the same angle with respect to the yarn, and uniformly distributed along the latter.

By the process forming the object of this invention, although being particularly suitable for the type of woolling as disclosed under 3, and while being applicable to the wooling features disclosed under 1 and 2, it is possible to produce yarns which are particularly regular in the sense of the foregoing.

It has been found that it is possible to obtain yarns, which are particularly regular as far as the number, the

length and the position of the projecting fibers are concerned, if the woolling is carried out in two stages and if between the two said woolling stages an enlivening and lubricating treatment of the partially woolled yarn is interposed. As aforesaid, this process is particularly suitable for the woolling processes carried out during the twisting stage. In each of the two resulting twisting stages, a given twist is imparted to the yarn simultaneously with the woolling.

The enlivening and lubricating bath has the purpose of. rendering ductile the yarn for the second woolling and of diminishing the eifects of any irregular stretching which may have occurred in the previous treatment. Thus a perfectly homogenous yarn is submitted to the final'woolling which, due to the lubrication of the yarn, can'be elfected by the cutting and abrading means in regular and gentle manner.

After the first woolling step, the yarn can be submitted to the lubricating and enlivening bath either after said yarn has been collected in cakes or skeins, or during the operation of the second woolling, by unwinding the yarn from the collecting device after the first woolling treatment, by causing said yarn to pass without tension in a basin containing the lubricating and enlivening bath and drying said yarn, for instance by means of a heated tube and then carrying the yarn, possibly after a suitable taking up, towards the device carrying out the second woolling.

As enlivening and lubricating bath, use can be made of a solution of sulfonation products either of vegetable oils, or of higher fatty acids or animal fats or higher fatty alcohols, wherein either mineral or vegetable oils are dispersed by suitable means. As dispersing means use can be made of soaps, and particularly the triethanolamine soaps, or the condensation products of ethylene oxide with higher fatty acids, or the condensation products of ethylene oxide with higher alcohols, and generally of the condensation products of fatty acids.

According to the present invention it is possible to operate, for instance according to one of the following ways:

Example 1.-A non-twisted filament and 200 count viscose rayon yarn is woolled, for instance by the device disclosed in Italian Patent No. 338,123, simultaneously giving the yarn a left-hand twist'of turns per meter. (According to Italian Patent 338,123, in the manufacture of staple fibre yarns consisting of bundles of continuous filaments, a portion of the individual filaments is interrupted by means of continuous periodic contact between the filaments and natural or artificial rough bodies rendered abrasive or cutting in some way. The operation is preferably carried out while twisting, and in this case the body used is in general a ring having an abrasive character or otherwise formed to secure a cutting effect at intervals on the individual filaments, the contact between these filaments and the ring being secured by centrifugal action in the passage of the yarn through the ring to a spinning head or, in other words,

further twisting'of 100 left-hand turns per meter.

While the bundle .of filaments is rotating and is caused to balloon .in .the spinning operation.)

The yarn is then collected in cakes and these cakes are immersed during 30 minutes in a water bath containing :5 gx/l. of a mixture comprising:

56% .by weight of vaseline oil by weight ofoleine 4% by weight of .triethanolarnine 14% by weight of "sodium 'sulforicinate, and

16% by weight of the condensation product of oleic acid with ethylene oxide.

The treatment is carried out at the temperature of 50,55 C. .After centrifugation, drying and ;moisture regain, the second wool-ling =is carried .out by the .same device giving a second left twisting of ,JSO turns per meter.

Example 2.-.A 109 filament, 2-00 count viscose rayon yarn, having 50 left turns :of twisting per meter, is woolled, for instance by the device disclosed in Italian Patent No. 338,123 simultaneously giving the yarn a Then the yarn is submitted to the treatment by the enlivening and lubricating bath .and to the second woollin-g step as indicated under Example 1.

The aforecited examples should not be considered as limitative examples of the scope of this invention.

1 .claim:

1. A process for transforming continuous filament artificial yarn {into interrupted filament yarns, whichcomprises submitting the continuous filament to a first tearin-g, cutting, abrading or roughem'ng for production of broken filament yarn while twisting, collecting the yarn in cakes, immersingthe cakes into a bath formed of a solution of sulfonation products selected from the group consisting of vegetable oils, higher'fatty acids, animal fats and higher fatty alcohols, said solution containing in dispersion .an oil selected trom the group including mineral oils and vegetable oils, submitting the cakes coming from the bath to centrifugation and then further submitting the yarn to a second tearing, cutting, abrading or roughening for the production of broken filament yarn, while twisting.

2. A process for transforming continuous filament artificial 'yarninto interrupted filament yarns, which comprises submitting the continuous filament to a first stage of a treatment ior production :of broken filament yarn while twisting, collecting the yarn in cakes, immersing the cakes into a bath formed of a solution of sulfona- 1 tion products selected from the group consisting of vegetable oils, higher fatty acids, animal fats and higher fatty alcohols, said solution containing in dispersion an oil selected from the group including mineral oils and vegetable oils, submitting the cakes coming from the bath to centrifugation :and then .further submitting the yarn to a second stage of treatment for the production of broken filament yarn, while twisting,saidfirstand-second stages of treatment consisting .of interrupting .a portion of the filament by ;-,periodic tearing, cutting, abrading :or

roughening.

Referencesflited .in the file of this patent IJ'NITED STAT-ES PATENTS 

1. A PROCESS FOR TRANSFORMING CONTINUOUS FILAMENT ARTIFICIAL YARN INTO INTERRUPTED FILAMENT YARNS, WHICH COMPRISES SUBMITTING THE CONTINOUS FILAMENT TO A FIRST TEARING, CUTTING, ABRADING OR ROUGHENING FOR PRODUCTION OF BROKEN FILAMENT YARN WHILE TWISTING, COLLECTING THE YARN IN CAKES, IMMERSING THE CAKES INTO A BATH FORMED OF A SOLUTION OF SULFONATION PRODUCTS SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF VEGETABLE OILS, HIGHER FATTY ACIDS, ANIMAL FAT AND HIGHER FATTY ALCOHOLS, SAID SOLUTION CONTAINING IN DISPENSION AN OIL SELECTED FROM THE GROUP INCLUDING MINERAL OILS AND VEGETABLE OILS, SUBMITTING THE CAKES COMING FROM THE BATH TO CENTRIFUGATION AND THE FURTHER SUBMITTING THE YARN TO A SECOND TEARING, CUTTING, ABRADING OR ROUGHENING FOR THE PRODUCTION OF BROKEN FILAMENT YARN, WITH TWISTING. 